Melibochus, for the purpose of visiting some of the scenery of the
Odenwald. Passing the night at the inn there, we slept with one bed
under and two above, and started early in the morning to climb up the
side of the Melibochus. After a long walk through the forests, which
were beginning to change their summer foliage for a brighter garment, we
reached the summit and ascended the stone tower which stands upon it.
This view gives one a better idea of the Odenwald than that from the
Kaiserstuhl at Heidelberg.

This is a great collection of rocks, in a wild pine wood, heaped
together like pebbles on the seashore and worn and rounded as if by the
action of water; so much do they resemble waves that one standing at the
bottom and looking up can not resist the idea that they will flow down
upon him. It must have been a mighty tide whose receding waves left
these masses piled up together. The same formation continues at
intervals to the foot of the mountains. It reminded me of a glacier of
rocks instead of ice.

A little higher up lies a massive block of granite called the Giant's
Column. It is thirty-two feet long and three to four feet in diameter,
and still bears the mark of the chisel. When or by whom it was made
remains a mystery. Some have supposed it was intended to be erected for
the worship of the sun by the wild Teutonic tribes who inhabited this
forest; it is more probably the work of the Romans. A project was once
started to erect a monument on the battlefield of Leipsic, but it was
found too difficult to carry into execution.

After dining at the little village of Reichelsdorf, in the valley
below--where the merry landlord charged my friend two kreutzers less
than myself because he was not so tall--we visited the castle of
Schoenberg, and joined the Bergstrasse again. We walked the rest of the
way here. Long before we arrived the moon shone down on us over the
mountains; and when we turned around the foot of the Heiligenberg, the
mist descending in the valley of the Neckar rested like a light cloud on
the church-spires.

[Footnote A: From "Views Afoot." Published by G.P. Putnam's Sons.]

STRASSBURG[A]

BY HARRIET BEECHER STOWE

I left the cars with my head full of the cathedral. The first thing I
saw, on lifting my eyes, was a brown spire. We climbed the spire; we
gained the roof. What a magnificent terrace! A world in itself; a
panoramic view sweeping the horizon. Here I saw the names of Goethe a